Hi, to all!

I wanted to let everyone know that on tomorrow's LIVE Forum Antilles radio show (Mega FM 101.1)Sean Paton will have Commissioner Burny El Hage as his guest and they will be discussing the Cruise/Bonaire ship issues at length.

Sean would welcome any input, comments, opinions, thoughts (pro and con) regarding the recent arrival of many Cruise Ships to Bonaire's shores with an increase in the numbers to occur in the future.

The radio program is "live" from Bonaire for two hours and begins at Noon local Bonaire time which would be 11:00 a.m. Eastern Standard/US time (8:00 a.m. Pacific/US time).

If you do wish to participate by asking questions of the Commissioner or Sean Paton you may do so via email to the radio address (below) or via telephone dir3ectly into the studio line (see below).

You do not have to identify yourself if you wish to remain anonymous. Everyone and anyone is welcome to present comments, questions, concerns, etc.

This is a great opportunity for all of us to actually "voice" our opinions directly to a Bonaire government official, Commissioner Burny El Hage.

Thanks for listening! Ayo. Carole

Email the show: info@forumantilles.com

Radio Studio phone number (011-599)-717-2101

Website address for more information:

http://forumantilles.com/




(Message edited by Carole on February 16, 2008)

If you would like to listen to the radio program "live" on Sunday you can do so via an Internet connection. Just go to the website and click on Listen Live and it will download and play via Windows Media player or Real Player. Thanks! cb

http://www.forumantilles.com/

Sean Paton has announced he will be playing portions of his one hour with the Commissioner during his show this week which is on at 1:00 p.m. Bonaire time (noon Eastern time).

If you can access a PC during the week I'm certain your email will be read and discussed with Commissioner Burny El Hage again. I"m certain that was your email that he read on the air and discussed it at length.

I can't wait until we get our daylight savings time back so we will be on the same time as Bonaire...I always forget to tune in one hour early for Sean's program during the winter months! LOL.

I was a bit concerned with a lot of the Commissioner's responses as they did tend to favor "tourism" and money, per se'...after all, he IS the Commissioner of Tourism at this time.

It was not until the end of the discussion on the show that Mr. El Hage responded to Sean's comments and concerns about the eco system and damage being sustained to the reef and marine environment due to the ships engines and tugs running to hold the ship steady in winds, etc. (Some BT'ers did post comments on the noise and silt kicked up by the engines, etc. earlier on BT).

Mr. El Hage stated there WILL (future) be studies done on the impact of the ships to the marine environment...well, I would think this should have been done BEFORE "they" (not certain who voted/decided to increase the pod peeps landing on Bonaire over the next two years) increased the numbers of those arriving on these huge ships.

As I have said before....if Bonaire (government) is not careful they will "Kill the goose that laid the golden egg" and then only ships will want to come there as the divers and snorkelers and nature buffs who enjoy her marine environment of today and her serenity will not want to return at all. My thoughts....how about anyone else's??

Sean will still accept input via his phone and email as he intends to have the Commissioner return again to address even more issues they could not get to on the air on Sunday, 2-17-08.

Jump in here, folks!! CAROle


(Message edited by Carole on February 18, 2008)

Carole
This article is not new but I had not seen it before. It gives you some idea of the kind of money involved in the cruise industry today. It is obvious that cruise people are different animals than those of us who go to Bonaire. Carnival owns just about all the major cruise companies in the world, and they are still growing. The bucks they are able to spend makes it almost inevitable that they will destroy the type of Caribbean we love. Unfortunately I have to say I don't think there is much we can do about it.
Mick
http://www.newsday.com/travel/ny-ki4890374sep17,0,6287659.story

Carole - thanks for the thread - I appreciate it. I try to remember to tune in but heck I can't remember from one hour to the next things I am supposed to do.

Mickey - thanks for the article - very interesting. I did notice that it said that the area it was built was away from the "reef". Wonder exactly what that means. And what would happen if Bonaire built the same type of cruise ship world like they did here. What would happen? Just thinking aloud.

Sigh. cb

Hi Yo MO
You probably looked around about Grand Turk but if not, Grand Turk is just about 7 miles long and 1.5 miles wide. They are anticipating 300,000 visits a year. The population is less than 6,000. Carnival spent $42,000,000 to $50,000,000 (various reports)on the terminal.
Ugh mick













42,000,000 to 50,000,000

What Carole - you don't WANT CruiseShip World - with it's man-made beaches, trinket stalls, Watered down drink franchises and 15 minute on the bus tours??? I can't BELIEVE that. Why look at all the charming things that would do for Bonaire. I mean really - we would get...get...get... wait, I'm thinking now... we would get...get...get... I'm still thinking.

So anywho - what was I saying???

I can't imagine what that is going to do to Grand Turk. I've only been to Provo and that was mainly to catch the Aggressor. This is almost like some of the "private" islands that the cruise ship lines and Disney "own". Come to our watered down version of an island... a real island...where real people live, work and play.

Grand Turk is ( was) less developed than Bonaire.

I wonder (if) how much the cruise liners are willing to offer the officials of Bonaire (or whomever....) to take over Klein Bonaire...good thing the people of Bonaire took it up as a "rescue" effort not to long ago to "save" and protect Klein Bonaire from developers.

Boy, I'm sure they'd LOVE to get their hands on that pristine virgin island and "create" one of their fake palm tree watered down private islands.

Sigh.

My email went off to Divi Corporate with copies to all Divi operations (local and NC) and my "hard copy" letter to Divi will be in the mail in the morning. cb

Sigh.

Sent a 2 page, typed letter to Divi NC today in addition to the email sent out. sigh.

Mickey, thanks for the link. I like the line "All it took was a vision...". If I had visions like that, I'd either call it a nightmare or go see a psychiatrist.

Carole, thanks for the post. Keep up the good work.

Last Sunday's radio discussion with Tourism Commissioner Burny El Hage will be re-broadcast on Mega FM from Bonaire (and via Internet) on Friday, 2-22-08 between 2pm-3pm Bonaire time which would be 1pm-2pm East Coast and 10am-11am West Coast time.

Sean will be having the Commissioner of Finance on his show this coming Sunday, 2-24-08 as well as another local official. He will be dedicating the entire two hours of his show this time to discussing the issues at hand - mainly Cruise ship tourism, its increase and impact(s) over the next few years.

Again, please feel free to email Sean or call the studio on Sunday to let him know if you have any questions for his guests or concerns to express.

Please refer to the initial postings on this thread for the website address and phone number to the studio, etc.

Sean will be placing his interview from 2-17-08 with Commissioner El Hague onto his website in the near future, as well.

Thanks to you all for listening and voicing your concerns regarding the ships and increase of passengers over the next couple of years. cb

Good morning, everyone!

If anyone does wish to drop Sean an email note and wishes to remain anonymous please be certain to indicate this in the title of the note...No Name.

Sean's guests will be on air at approximately 12:30 p.m. Bonaire time, right after the BBC news spot. Sean will open the show to all for discussions with his two guest for 1.5 hours.

Again, this is everyone's opportunity to speak up and be heard with regard to the present and future situation with the Cruise ships and the increase in arrivals and passengers to Bonaire's shores.

Thank you all for caring about our beautiful little island, her waters and her lovely people...we hope to help protect all of them from potential irreversible damage(s). cb

Sean will be talk with
Ronella Tjin Asjoe-Croes Director of Tourism Bonaire and Elvis Tjin Asjoe Minister of Economic and Labour Affairs of the Netherlands Antilles of which Bonaire is a part.

Thank you, Michael! I could not remember their names for the life of me! LOL.

Should be a good show.

Thanks, again. See you soon! cb

Does anyone plan on listening in or participating/contributing to the show on Sunday, 2-24-08?

Now's a great opportunity to be heard on this topic! Thanks for letting me vent on this topic. cb